Friday, December 18, 2009

Madrigal’s Palace bid opposed

Senator Jamby Madrigal may be an incumbent legislator and a scion of a rich family, but these do not automatically qualify her as a candidate for president.

This was stressed by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Nacionalista Party secretary-general, as he challenged the Commission on Elections to disqualify Madrigal for being a nuisance candidate.

Cayetano said if environmentalist Nicanor Perlas was disqualified by the Comelec for supposedly having no visible political organization, the same issue could be raised against Madrigal.

Cayetano said the Bicolana senator has not bothered to put up television advertisements or any kind of propaganda material in relation to her presidential bid.

“Of the eight presidential candidates who got the approval of Comelec, there is only one who does not have a party and there is only one who has no bona fide intention to really run,” the senator from Taguig told newsmen.

Cayetano’s move was seen as a reprisal against Madrigal for filing an ethics complaint against Senator Manuel Villar, Nacionalista Party chief and standard-bearer in the 2010 elections.

Madrigal got back at Cayetano and accused him of ignorance of the law. She said it was his principal Villar who should be disqualified for “premature campaigning” and overspending.

“I run on a platform of principled politics, independent and free from political debt. Petty mudslinging from the Pateros political dynasty has not deterred me from exposing the truth about the C-5 corruption scandal and certainly will not deter me from running for president. Mababaw ang kanilang kaligayahan [They have a shallow threshold of happiness],” Madrigal said in a text message.

Cayetano said Madrigal was perceived to be fabulously rich but the truth was “she hasn’t gotten it because she was excluded from the inheritance will of her aunt, the late socialite-philanthropist Chito Madrigal.”

He said if Madrigal had a lot of money, this did not show in the way she was handling her candidacy.

“You can be the richest person but if you are not moving enough, that makes you a nuisance candidate. You may be the poorest candidate, but if you are doing everything to put your organization and solicit public support, then you are not a nuisance candidate,” Cayetano said.

He suspected that Madrigal joined the presidential race to use public assemblies and media fora to hit other candidates which he said “make a mockery of the electoral process.”